MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP - Plans for a restaurant at Whitetail Resort are on hold after Montgomery Township residents voted Tuesday against the sale of alcoholic beverages in the township.

The township voted 677-495 (54 percent to 46 percent) not to go "wet."

"It was an inner circle of people who are faithful to the Lord and want to see the township stay dry," resident Forrest Sprecher said. "I felt I needed to take a stand against it. I guess most people in the township feel the way we do. With the availability of alcohol in the borough (of Mercersburg) and in Maryland, we felt we didn't need more than that in the township."

Sprecher said he wrote to local churches to get the word out that there was going to be a vote on the question. He reads scripture daily.

Friends of Montgomery Township, a political action committee bankrolled by the chairman of Whitetail's corporate owner, had pitched the referendum as part of economic development. The Tuscarora Area Chamber of Commerce and Franklin County Area Development Corp. supported the concept. A restaurant serving drinks at Whitetail would hire people year-round and help stabilize the tax base in Tuscarora School District.

Those plans are on hold, according to Don MacAskill, general manager of Whitetail Resorts.

MacAskill is also chairman of the Friends of Montgomery Township. The PAC spent more than $21,000 campaigning for the referendum, according to campaign finance reports. The largest single expense was $9,646 for colorful mailings.

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"It goes without saying, we were disappointed with the result of the vote last night," MacAskill said on Wednesday. "We feel positive we took the question to the voters. From the beginning it was our goal to have an open conversation with the voters. We felt we did that."

The resort on Blairs Valley Road between Mercersburg and Clear Spring, Md., employs 1,100 people during the peak ski season and 42 people full-time year-round. About 100 live in Montgomery Township.

"We're going to continue to strive to be an economic engine," he said. "Unfortunately, it will be impacted to some degree. We've always worked to be a good corporate neighbor. That's not going to change. We're committed to working with Montgomery Township and the residents who live here."

Previous attempts to allow the sale of alcohol in the township have failed in the past 32 years.

Voter turnout among registered voters in the township was 35 percent, much higher than the 19 percent primary election turnout across Franklin County.

A majority of voters in three of the township's four precincts voted against the question: Do you favor the granting of liquor licenses for the sale of liquor in the Township of Montgomery? Vote by precinct:

Montgomery 1 - 179 yes to 176 no.

Montgomery 2 - 124 - 253.

Montgomery 3 - 108 - 151.

Montgomery 4 - 84 - 97.

"The voters of Montgomery Township have spoken, and we respect their vote to remain 'dry,'" said Mary-Anne Gordon, chamber of commerce executive director.

"There are a high number of conservative voters in the township," MacAskill said.

Montgomery Township residents had voted against going wet in 1981, three years before Dr. Bruce Foster unveiled plans for the ski resort on Two Top Mountain. Whitetail opened in 1991 with hopes of becoming a year-round resort. The golf course opened in 2001.

"I think it's better that you have a clear mind if you're going to be involved in dangerous sports and driving, where you put others in jeopardy " said Sprecher, a retired Maryland law enforcement officer who settled in the township.

Whitetail is the only ski resort of the more than 30 in Pennsylvania that does not have a license to sell alcohol, according to MacAskill. The Whitetail ski and golf resorts currently host wedding receptions and banquets, but without cash bars.

"I'm sure if anyone wanted to put a restaurant in, people would come regardless of whether it served alcohol or not," Sprecher said.

The area of Tuscarora School District has little commercial development to support the tax base and to offer jobs.

The Friends of Montgomery Township as of May 6 had more than $18,000 of the $35,000 donated by Irv Naylor, chairman of York-based Snow Time Inc.

The PAC will remain intact, according to MacAskill.

The referendum could appear again in two years in the next municipal primary election.

"It's early yet, and we haven't had the opportunity to discuss that at this point in time," MacAskill said.